RFLP electrophoresis at OHSU

Definition

A nucleic acid assay that is used to detect RFLPs, which involves fragmenting a sample of DNA by a restriction enzyme. The resulting DNA fragments are then separated by length using agarose gel electrophoresis, and transferred to a membrane via the Southern blot procedure. Hybridization of the membrane to a labeled DNA probe then determines the length of the fragments which are complementary to the probe. A RFLP occurs when the length of a detected fragment varies between individuals.